Army commemorative coins have just been minted. The U.S. Mint is issuing three coins to honor those who serve in the Army, it announced.
The Army Historical Foundation (AHF) and United States Mint announced the 2011 coins at the Pentagon on Feb. 1. They are called “Army Service in War,” “Modern Army Service,” and “Army Service in Peace,” according to Daniel P. Shaver, the U.S. Mint’s general counsel.
It took two and a half years to create the coins, according to BG Creighton W. Abrams Jr. (USA-Ret.), AHF’s executive director.
“Not only are the coins absolutely beautiful,” said Abrams. “Their symbolic value is certain to resonate with our more than 1 million currently serving soldiers and their families and our 11 million surviving Army veterans across the country as sincere public appreciation of their selfless service and personal sacrifices.”
A custom in the Army is for an officer to give “command coins” to a soldier, usually by pressing them into the others’ hand during a handshake. The coins are often given in recognition of an accomplishment, and mark a place, a military unit, or an event. When a group of cartoonists visited Afghanistan last year, their hosts gave them several command coins, cartoonist Mike Lukovich said in an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Part of the revenues from sales of the gold, silver, and clad commemorative coins will support the National Museum of the United States Army. A clad coin has a core of one kind of metal surrounded with an outer layer of a different metal. U.S. nickels and dimes are examples of clad coins. The museum will be built in Fort Belvoir, Va.
The Army Historical Foundation (AHF) and United States Mint announced the 2011 coins at the Pentagon on Feb. 1. They are called “Army Service in War,” “Modern Army Service,” and “Army Service in Peace,” according to Daniel P. Shaver, the U.S. Mint’s general counsel.
It took two and a half years to create the coins, according to BG Creighton W. Abrams Jr. (USA-Ret.), AHF’s executive director.
“Not only are the coins absolutely beautiful,” said Abrams. “Their symbolic value is certain to resonate with our more than 1 million currently serving soldiers and their families and our 11 million surviving Army veterans across the country as sincere public appreciation of their selfless service and personal sacrifices.”
A custom in the Army is for an officer to give “command coins” to a soldier, usually by pressing them into the others’ hand during a handshake. The coins are often given in recognition of an accomplishment, and mark a place, a military unit, or an event. When a group of cartoonists visited Afghanistan last year, their hosts gave them several command coins, cartoonist Mike Lukovich said in an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Part of the revenues from sales of the gold, silver, and clad commemorative coins will support the National Museum of the United States Army. A clad coin has a core of one kind of metal surrounded with an outer layer of a different metal. U.S. nickels and dimes are examples of clad coins. The museum will be built in Fort Belvoir, Va.
